In an aircraft, the purpose of the thermal and acoustic insulation system, also called “thermophonic insulation,” is to insulate the aircraft against noises, particularly aerodynamic noises, and against the cold conditions encountered when flying at normal cruising altitudes. The insulation generally relates to the aircraft cabin that is intended to accommodate the crew and the passengers and, more generally, to the entire pressurized part of the aircraft.
In known types of aircraft, the system for thermophonically insulating the cabin is formed by numerous padded panels each assembled on the structure of the aircraft. In a typical medium-haul aircraft, there are therefore approximately three hundred padded panels. The geometries of these panels vary depending on their respective locations inside the aircraft and, for the most part, are generally manually produced and manually integrated into the structure of the aircraft.
The operations for installing the thermophonic insulation system in the aircraft are therefore long and expensive and, moreover, these operations exclusively control the aircraft in the sense that, in general, it is not possible for other operations to be completed on the aircraft during the installation of the thermophonic insulation system.
In terms of increasing aircraft production rates, improving the procedures for integrating thermophonic insulation systems in the aircraft is therefore desirable.